


The Love That Was The Swan Song

by gaialux



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2017-11-19 23:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaialux/pseuds/gaialux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A rambling essay of my thoughts about Supernatural's Swan Song, an episode that was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Love That Was The Swan Song

**Author's Note:**

> An essay about Supernatural season 5, episode 22 entitled Swan Song.
> 
> Supernatural does not belong to me (though thoughts/comments/etc. on the episode itself are all mine). No profit is gained from my writing of this.

Season five, episode twenty-two. This was the episode of Supernatural that hit my heart, caused me to cry countless numbers of tears, and made me think about live a lot more deeply. Am I too obsessed with the fictional show? Maybe. I'm sure most people that know me would agree with you, but at the same time, there are many people that love the show just as much too.

I think what really hit me with this show is the fact that for once Sam sacrificed everything. Now, I know that Sam did try to save Dean from hell, but in a way this was an even more giant leap of fate. Dean sold his soul for Sammy, and now Sam sacrificed his life for Dean, a final act of bravery. His swan song.

Let me break it down some more. The start of the episode is full of beautiful moments; Dean letting Sam grow up and say yes, Dean's promise to not try to bring Sam back, Chuck's telling of the Impala's story (which was important in more ways than one, but I'll get onto that later) and the small funny moments that make Castiel, well, Castiel. These moments mean so much yet so little in the scheme of things, so I'm going to leave them out for now. They make Supernatural Supernatural, but they don't make this episode the epic ending that it was.

Let's cut straight into the cemetery. Rock Of Ages by Def Leppard is playing to start this epic scene. The song – along with Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas – stay in theme with the way Supernatural has been since the pilot. The raw core love of the brothers and this story has never changed, even if the exterior has been altered. Dean will not leave Sammy to die, no matter how much it will cost him. And truth be told, he really doesn't care what it will cost him, his whole live he has needed to look after Sam, and this isn't going to change one little thing.

Dean steps from the Impala to face Michael and Lucifer, but he doesn't see them. In his Dean style, he doesn't need to see who Adam, and especially Sam, have been filled with. Deep down they are always his brothers, and this is all Dean wants to get to. With help from the ever faithful Castiel (who ends up paying his life for his loyalty to Dean), Dean gets his chance with Sam, he doesn't need to constantly be aware that Lucifer is there, because Sam is there too. That's all Dean has ever needed.

"Sammy, I'm here. I'm not gonna leave you. I'm not gonna leave you!" If I find a more beautiful, heartbreaking line then whatever it belongs to will become my new favourite thing. This line slices me into a million pieces. If we never saw it before (which would be hard not to see), we now know exactly to what degree Dean loves and will always look after Sam. He will die, because Sam is more important to him that his own life. Even if Lucifer has already killed Sam, Dean will hold onto the shred of hope that his beloved Sammy is still in there, fighting, fighting for his brother.

I'm going to cut to a scene here that is not displayed, but I think needs to be heard – Sam's. Whether or not it is displayed yet (and it probably isn't to such a large degree) Sam's love for his big brother is just as strong as his big brother's for him. He is stuck inside his body, fighting as hard as he possibly can to control this monster who is killing – no, torturing – the most important person in his life and he can't. This is a pain that I cannot even begin to feel and because this isn't a work of fiction, I'm not going to try and write it because I know I probably won't give it justice. All I can say is that this would probably be the most heartbreaking feeling Sam could ever go through.

Cut back to the scene at hand, of Lucifer killing Dean, and this is where we really realise both the importance of Sam and Dean's relationship, and of The Impala. Chuck (or God as I am now considering his role in the story as) informed us at the start that The Impala was the most important object in the universe, and this is the scene where we realise it is true. Sam and Dean made The Impala their home. "The boys never had four walls and a roof, nor were they ever homeless." This was very true, we come to think of The Impala as another character, another central one that never leaves or changes and is just as strong as Dean and Sam, even if we do sometimes take her for granted. Chuck tells us of all her blemishes, the things that make her The Impala. "This is the stuff that's important. The army man that Sam crammed into the ashtray, it's still stuck there. The Legos that Dean shoved into the vents: to this day, heat comes on, they can hear them rattle. These are the things that make the car theirs. Really theirs. Even when Dean rebuilt her from the ground up, he made sure all these little things stayed, because it's the blemishes that make her beautiful." These blemishes become the most important things, because one of them saved the world.

Sam/Lucifer looks through the car window, and there Sam spots that army man, and suddenly we see how important it is. The images of Dean and his childhood rush through his mind. As fast as they go during the show, I think it's important to stop here and discuss them more in depth. I realised here, at this exact crucial point, that what Dean and Sam have is something I have never seen, read of or heard about about before. The images that go through Sam's mind are only of Dean. There is nothing of Mary, John or even Jessica. We realise that this people that Sam encountered during his life weren't as important as the one constant thing that kept him living through everything, and that constant was Dean. With those images running through his mind – with how much he needs and loves Dean running through his mind, Sam can take control of his body, throw down the four rings and jump into the pit. Thus saving the world, and more importantly (and probably the single reason why Sam does it) saving Dean.

With Sam and Michael in the pit, God brings Castiel back to life with his angel powers full in swing. Castiel is able to cure Bobby and Dean, even though we can fully tell that Dean doesn't want to be brought back. "Every part of him, every fiber he's got, wants to die. Or find a way to bring Sam back." He doesn't do either though, because of the promise he made to Sam.

I think the rest of the episode, while heartbreaking, is quite trivial. Castiel leaves us with "What would you rather Dean? Peace or freedom?" to ponder, and Dean fulfills Sam's request of going to see Lisa. Dean's breakdown on arriving at Lisa's heart definitely tugged at my heart, because while we see the boys cry a lot, I think this is the first time Dean has ever actually sobbed. Maybe it is better acting on Jensen Ackles' part, or maybe it's because this time Dean knows (or thinks) that there is no way to bring Sam back. He isn't going to try. Sam – who is practically his life – is really gone this time.

I think that this episode ended wonderfully. It stayed with the most important theme, and the core of the show, which was the brother's love and devotion to each other. It's what the fans wanted, it's what Eric Kripke wanted and it's what the show itself wanted. I'm going to bring The Impala back in for another moment, and concentrate on the quote of "The boys never had four walls and a roof, nor were they ever homeless." While I think that The Impala was a very important home for the boys, it was also just a physical symbol for what was much deeper. What their home really was was the boys. Sam and Dean were each others home, and The Impala gives us a physical manifestation of what we may or may not see every time Supernatural flicks onto out screens. The show didn't need the monsters, ghosts and demons. The show needed two brothers, who would do anything in the world for each other, because it's all they had.

"Sammy, I'm here. I'm not gonna leave you. I'm not gonna leave you!"

And to think of this deep down, through all five seasons, Dean never did leave Sam, and he never will.


End file.
